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Deconstruction salvages abandoned Cleveland homes

Reprinted from Grant Segall/Plain Dealer Reporter January 03, 2009

reprinted from Marvin Fong/The Plain Dealer

A crew from Urban Lumberjacks of Cleveland deconstructs a Glenville home.

A forklift on a boom reached into an open home to wriggle a wall back and forth. The wall finally came loose and clattered to the floor.

A little plaster broke away, but the most valuable parts -- the studs -- survived. And they were good old 2-by-4s, not the skimpy 1.5-by-3.5-inchers of today.

By raising roofs first, then plucking whole walls, crews dismantled two abandoned Glenville houses in a pilot project last month much more quickly and inexpensively than crews tore down two similar homes in Slavic Village last summer, working piece by piece, from the inside out.

The heightened speed could mean heightened profits for the practice of deconstruction -- salvaging many materials from the nation's doomed homes for second lives instead of demolishing them for nothing but landfills.

reprinted from Marvin Fong/The Plain Dealer

Greg Wheeler helps to deconstruct a Glenville home, saving much of the wood for other houses or uses.

Crews save 2-by-4s, floorboards, bricks, copper pipes, glass blocks, pocket doors and more for construction, renovation or whole new uses, such as furniture or ornaments.

"Deconstruction is helping us rebuild the city in a responsible manner," said Chris Kious of Urban Lumberjacks of Cleveland, which handled the winter work with guidance from Dave Bennink of Bellingham, Wash., a veteran of some 500 deconstruction jobs.

The summer work took about 7½ weeks and cost about $75,000. The winter work took about 11 days and cost about $45,000.

City Hall and the Cleveland Foundation split the costs of both sessions. The city's tab was about the same as for normal demolitions.

reprinted from Marvin Fong/The Plain Dealer

Urban Lumberjacks of Cleveland tears down a Glenville home chunk by chunk, saving studs, bricks and more for new uses.

As part of the project, the crews included former prisoners and other workers in need of new trades.

Kious estimates that the salvaged materials are worth $5,000. He'll give some to Habitat for Humanity and try to sell others.

Despite the recession, Kious says there's a market for many recyclables. He works with his previous business, A Piece of Cleveland, which makes furniture from decades-old wood. The wood typically came from more-mature trees, which have a stronger grain than the young trees used today.

Deconstruction isn't suitable for all demolitions of old homes. Many are too damaged by fire, water or termites. Others lack the right stuff from the start.

But Kious sees plenty of opportunity in a town known as the world capital of foreclosure. He hopes to keep shaving days and dollars from deconstructions to make them more profitable.

Damian Borkowski, Cleveland's demolition manager, said he needs to study Kious' results more carefully before committing to more deconstruction. Still, he said, "this is definitely a direction we want to go."

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Deconstruction salvages abandoned Cleveland homes

Reprinted from Grant Segall/Plain Dealer Reporter January 03, 2009